‘A bit of a fantasy’: Michael Livori plied captive underage girl with ice, sexually assaulted her
A druggie kept a girl in his Werribee Department of Housing room, plied her with drugs and sexually assaulted her but it took almost a month for him to be arrested — even after he went to extraordinary lengths to contact his victim.
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An “opportunistic” ice addict kept an underage missing girl captive in his Department of Housing rooming house room, plied her with drugs and sexually assaulted her, a court has heard.
Michael Livori kept the girl in his Werribee room from the time she was listed as a missing person on December 1, 2017 until she was picked up by police on January 2, 2018.
The girl, who was under State care at the time, told a foster worker that Livori had kept her in the room without any other of the male rooming house occupants aware she was there.
She said Livori gave her ice daily and forced her to give him oral sex “every day for a month”.
An order which prevented Livori going near the girl was taken out on January 11.
Livori breached the order when he went to the girl’s foster home address.
He gained entry after he pretended he’d lost a canary and asked if he could look in the backyard.
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Livori wasn’t arrested and remanded until February 1 but was bailed on April 4, 2018.
Not long after his release he contacted the girl again.
He sent his victim 43 text messages and called her four times.
Livori was arrested and remanded for the final time on August 29.
He told a psychologist he had fallen in love with his victim.
“Well, I know it sounds stupid, but I sort of fell in love with her, but I know my emotions were all screwed up at the time because of the ice and this was sort of like a bit of a fantasy,” he told the psychologist.
“It was my decision to sexually assault her, but at the time I didn’t really think it was sexual assault because I thought she was consenting, but I also knew she couldn’t consent.”
The same psychologist described Livori’s offending as “‘situational and opportunistic”.
Livori, 52, was sentenced in the County Court on September 20 to a minimum two years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to sexual penetration of a child under 16 years.
Judge James Parrish said Livori’s attempts to contact the girl was “flagrant” offending
“The complainant was under care, living with a carer, and that three days prior to your attempt to see her, it had been explained to you that an order had been made against you preventing any contact,” he said.
“I have come to the view that the indictable offence can be viewed in the middle of the range of this type of offending, although I consider that your moral culpability is high.”
However, Judge Parrish commended Livori for his time spent in custody.
“Your Counsel also submitted that your prospects of rehabilitation are, ‘good’, and based on the opinion of (the psychologist) your risk of reoffending was ‘low to moderate’.
“In particular, it was emphasised how you were attempting to overcome your drug issues, as demonstrated by your activity in prison, and your excellent urine results.”
Livori was sentenced to a maximum three years and six months in prison.
He had spent 452 days in custody at the time of sentencing and was placed on the Sex Offender Registry for 15 years.